Jason Hartman welcomes Richard Duncan for the first of a two-part conversation about what is driving the economy, and which mistakes could catapult the US into a recession.

Richard Duncan is Chief Economist at Black Horse Asset Management, the author of The New Depression: The Breakdown of the Paper Money Economy and The Dollar Crisis: Causes, Consequences, Cures. His Macro Watch video series can help individuals to clearly understand how the financial system really works. Mr. Duncan previously held the position of economist for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Key Takeaways:

[1:01] Richard Duncan has a unique, insider’s view of world economics and FIAT money.

[6:06] In the US, when credit grows less than 2% the US goes into recession.

[11:17] Creditism is the new Capitalism.

[13:37] Looking back at the policies which saved the world economy in 2008.

[19:35] It’s a very sensitive moment in the economy as the Fed is considering reversing quantitative easing.

[23:27] Globalization has changed the way the economic game is played.

Jason talks with the co-founder of Reaganomics, Paul Craig Roberts. Together, they discuss some of the international threats that could face America, thanks to the recent actions from Washington. Specifically, they deal with issues of demography, currency and military developments in Russia and China and consider the potential impact of each of these on the United States.

Key Takeaways:

[1:55] The ruble should be strong in comparison to the dollar, and yet the ruble is risking collapse.

[5:49] The reserve currency status no longer seems as stable when we look at potential drops in use of the dollar.

[13:04] Paul Craig Roberts describes the US’s current position with regards to Russia and China.

[23:03] We’ve got a whole generation of people who now can’t afford to live on their own terms.

[25:56] The discussion moves to inflation and how it could transform the US economy.

Ever wonder why some people are liberals and others are conservative? Is there something different in their brain chemistry or is it just the way they were raised?

Dr. Rossiter is board certified in both general and forensic psychiatry. For more than forty years he has diagnosed and treated mental disorders, with a special interest in personality pathology and its developmental origins. He's also author of the book The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness, and talks about the belief that government can solve our problems and politicians have our best interests at heart.

Key Takeaways:

[2:18] The differences in mindset between liberals and conservatives

[5:38] Big government countries oppress religion because government needs to be the highest power

[9:56] Communist and socialist regimes have killed nearly 200 million people in the past century

[13:36] The people who describe themselves as caring are callous when they get power

[18:40] Politicians don't seem to have a grasp on obvious economic truths

[21:15] Adolescents need something to commit to and idealize things and people

In the early 1980s, Seth Merrin was an intern on Wall Street who saw ways the industry could change for the better. His first startup was an order management software that asset managers around the world use. He later created the company Liquidnet Holdings that allows institutional investors to trade large blocks of stock.

Jason Hartman caught up with Seth to talk about his newest book, The Power of Positive Destruction, and how business owners can take ideas from other industries and disrupt theirs.

Key Takeaways:

[0:46] The premise for the Power of Positive Destruction

[2:53] Taking things from one successful industry, and applying them to your different industry, can provide huge boons

[5:35] The positive destruction created by companies like Uber, Lyft, AirBnB, etc

[8:59] The art and science of launching a company

[12:24] How Seth applied the principles from his book on his own companies

[16:05] Whether Wall Street is swinging back toward being an institutional game, and how Seth's platform plays in that

[21:03] The idea of corporate responsibility, and how the proceeds from the book sales are going to help house the orphans of the genocide in Rwanda